Dr. B. Janet Hibbs and Dr. Anthony Rostain can be booked together or separately for speaking engagements. They are the coauthors of The Stressed Years of Their Lives, a guide for the parents of every college and college-bound student who want to know what’s normal mental health and behavior, what’s not, and how to intervene before it’s too late.

DR. B. JANET HIBBS is a recognized authority on family issues, with a focus on parent-child and partner relationships. Her speaking engagements draw on expert clinical experience, based on over 25 years of practice treating individuals, couples, and families. Her presentations provide effective strategies for coping with the many issues that parents and students face. Dr. Hibbs, dually licensed as a psychologist and family therapist, holds the highest credential in the marriage and family therapy field, as an Approved Supervisor for the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Dr. Hibbs is a popular radio talk show guest, with appearances on The Diane Riehm show, WHYY, NPR’s “Voices in the Family” and “Radio Times,” and on regional TV. She has been quoted in national newspapers including The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She is co-founder of Contextual Therapy Associates, where she has a private practice in Philadelphia, PA. She and her husband have been married for over 30 years and have two sons.

DR. ANTHONY L. ROSTAIN ’s clinical focus is lifespan neurodevelopmental psychiatry, which includes patients of all ages with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Tourette Syndrome, learning disabilities, and more. He treats patients at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and at Penn Medicine Behavioral Health, where he is Medical Director of the Adult Development Disorders Unit. An internationally renowned speaker and educator, he has lectured throughout North America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East on a variety of topics ranging from neurodevelopmental disorders across the lifespan, child and adolescent mental disorders, stress in college-aged students, and parenting in the new millennium, to professional development, ethics, communication skills, wellness and resilience education. He has appeared frequently on local NPR radio shows (“Voices in the Family” and “Radio Times”) and local television stations, and has been quoted in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

From two leading child and adolescent mental health experts comes a guide for the parents of every college and college-bound student who want to know what’s normal mental health and behavior, what’s not, and how to intervene before it’s too late.

The Stressed Years of Their Lives: K-12
Childhood is evaporating into a life filled with over-scheduled activities and screen time, and adolescence has become a high-stakes, time-starved pressure cooker of stress, fear, and perfectionism for kids. Many parents experience anxious over-involvement, wondering, "Will my child be OK?" and "Will they be ready for the challenges ahead?" Based on The Stressed Years of Their Lives, this talk helps parents and educators ready their students for a successful launch to college and early young adulthood by reviewing the unique stressors of this age and revealing the keys to health promotion and harm reduction.
The Stressed Years of Their Lives: College
Parents today wonder, "What's going on?" as they absorb the daily reports of campus hazards and skyrocketing rates of college mental health problems. Educational leaders ask, "Why is this generation more stressed?" and debate how best to balance the traditional emphasis on academic excellence with the value of non-cognitive, resilience-building instruction. This illuminating talk tackles the campus mental health crisis, promoting key conversations and helping parents and administrators distinguish normal adolescent and young adult behavior from the warning signs that flash: Danger Ahead.
The Stressed Years of Their Lives: Special Needs
When Dr. Hibbs's son Jensen left for college, his parents had every reason to believe he was prepared. Unfortunately, Jensen became severely depressed and withdrew from school on medical leave. His crisis and recovery taught Dr. Hibbs many important lessons about the specific challenges faced by families and young people with special needs. In this talk, Drs. Hibbs and Rostain discuss the journey through the education system and the launch to young adulthood through the lens of learning disabilities, mental health problems, and neuro-atypical development.

"Tony and B did a wonderful job sharing with our attendees! Their slides and commentary were right on target for what our educational leaders needed to hear and take back to their schools for impact. Indeed, mental health is so incredibly important as we teach and develop students for college and life." - Margaret ‘Sissy’ Wade, Ed.D., Executive Director, The Heads Network

Praise for The Stressed Years of Their Lives
"This is the type of book every parent should read before discussions of college even begin. Packing in just the right amount of statistics and real-world scenarios, two doctors offer sound advice on how parents can better prepare their children for the challenging college years that lie ahead of them."
- Kirkus

“This book is a hopeful and essential guide that promotes emotional health and mental fitness in young people. The authors address mental illness and offer models for prevention, treatment, and recovery. A must-read for parents, educators, and clinicians.”
— Patrick J. Kennedy, former U.S. congressman, author of A Common Struggle, and sponsor of Paritytrack.org

“The title says it all. For many, the teen years have become a high-stakes, time-starved pressure cooker of stress, fear, perfectionism, over-achievement, overdoing and, for many parents, over-involvement. For anyone hoping to navigate these turbulent adolescent years and emerge on the other side with a healthy relationship to a healthy, self-aware and independent young adult, this book is for you. Chock full of practical tools, resources and the wisdom that comes with years of experience, The Stressed Years of their Lives is destined to become a well-thumbed handbook to help families cope with this modern age of anxiety.”
— Brigid Schulte, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author of Overwhelmed, and director of the Better Life Lab at New America

“College-related anxiety and pressure on both parents and children begins long before the admissions process, changes and intensifies in college and has been escalating, alarming educators, mental health professionals and, of course, families themselves. Drs. Hibbs and Rostain have battled in this arena with courage, insight and a wealth of professional training and experience. This wonderful book defines and explores the many, varied minefields of the college years with candor and compassion, and provides parents with practical advice and support about what to look for, what to ask and say, and when and how to intervene. Having seen these pressures both as a parent and university president, I am grateful that there is now this long-overdue and extraordinary guide. It should be required reading for all parents.”
— Judith Rodin, former Provost of Yale University and President Emerita of the University of Pennsylvania

“Hibbs and Rostain have done a great service for parents trying to guide their kids through the transition to adulthood and college life in this high stress world. They’ve written an engaging and accessible book full of common sense guidance and tremendous clinical wisdom. They provide both specific advice about the important issues to consider and what parents and kids can do to be best positioned to address those issues in order to succeed and thrive.”
— Victor Schwartz, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at The Jed Foundation and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine

“Drs. Hibbs and Rostain have a national reputation as highly knowledgeable and skilled adolescent psychotherapists, and for good reason. This book is filled with both clinical vignettes and research findings to help illuminate the very personal stories of what these young people struggle with, as well as some disturbing statistics about the mental health crisis in high schools and colleges. If you want to learn about adolescents and how to help them, please read this book first.”
— Daniel Gottlieb, psychologist, nationally-bestselling author of Letters to Sam and host of "Voices in the Family"

“The Stressed Years of Their Lives is an informative, thought-provoking and—perhaps most importantly—conversation-starting curation of mental health information that all parents need to read. With robust research woven throughout deeply compelling stories of real young
adults and their families, the book paints a clear picture of the struggles that young adults of today are facing; the way parents, and young adults, and schools can be partners in success; and the message that help is available and there are so many reasons to have hope.”
— Alison K. Malmon, founder and executive director of Active Minds

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